Josephine

About the Book

A mistress, a courtesan, a Revolutionary heroine, a collector, a patron and an Empress, Josephine was, in the words of one of her friends, ‘an actor who could play all the roles’. And she would do anything to win.

For the young woman from Martinique who had been abandoned in Paris by her aristocratic husband, the future did not look promising. But resourceful and determined to retain a foothold in Parisian society, Josephine sought refuge in a convent and it was here that she learned to develop the husky voice and sensual grace that became her chief currency.

Shortly afterwards she reinvented herself again. While her friends and contemporaries were sent to the guillotine during the Terror that followed the Revolution, she survived prison and emerged as the doyenne of a wildly debauched party scene.

Glamorous, promiscuous and charming, she dominated the newspapers and surprised everybody when she encouraged the advances of a short, marginalised Corsican soldier, six years her junior. Together they made a formidable couple. Josephine, the fabulous hostess and skilled diplomat, was the perfect consort to the ambitious but obnoxious Napoleon. It was an extraordinarily intense and passionate relationship. With her by his side, he became the greatest man in Europe, the Supreme Emperor; and she amassed a jewellery box with more diamonds than Marie Antoinette’s and a house filled with art plundered from invaded countries.

But as his fame grew, Napoleon became increasingly obsessed with his need for an heir and intensely irritated with Josephine’s extravagant spending. The woman who had enchanted France and enjoyed flirtations became desperate and jealous; overwhelmed and depressed by the demands of public life. Until, a divorcee aged forty-seven, she was forced to watch from the sidelines as Napoleon and his young bride produced a child.

This is the incredible rise and unbelievable fall of a woman whose energy and ambition is often overshadowed by Napoleon’s military might. In this triumphant biography, Kate Williams tells Josephine’s searing story, of sexual obsession, politics and surviving as a woman in a man’s world.

About the Author

Kate Williams fell in love with the eighteenth century whilst studying for her BA at the University of Oxford. She has an MA from Queen Mary, University of London, and a DPhil from the University of Oxford. She is a lecturer and TV consultant, appearing regularly on the BBC and Channel 4. She lives in London.

Also by Kate Williams

England’s Mistress:

The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton

Becoming Queen Victoria:

The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain’s Greatest Monarch

The Ring and the Crown: A History of Royal Weddings 1066–2011 (with Alison Weir, Sarah Gristwood and Tracy Borman)

The Pleasures of Men

Young Elizabeth: The Making of our Queen

Notes

Prologue

1. Barras^,Mémoires, II, p. 61.

1. La Pagerie

1. R. Pichevin, L’Impératrice Joséphine, p. 64.

2. J.B.T. Chanvalon, Voyage à la Martinique (1763), p. 38.

3. Pichevin, L’Impératrice Joséphine, p. 44.

4. Stuart, Josephine, p. 7.

5. Normand, vol. I, p. 6.

6. Pichevin, L’Impératrice Joséphine p. 26.

7. Antonia Fraser, Marie Antoinette, p. 62.

8. Jean Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 67.

9. Comte de Montgaillard, Souvenirs (Paris, 1895), p. 277.

10. Le Normand, Historical and Secret Memoires, pp. 19–20.

11. Le Thai, 30 May 1797.

12. Aubenas, Histoire, I, p. 92.

13. Frédéric Masson, Josephine, p. 104.

14. Masson, Josephine, p. 75.

15. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 80.

16. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 51.

2. Sophistication

1. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 35.

2. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 28.

3. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 28.

4. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 76.

5. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 78.

6. Now that Marie-Josèphe-Rose is in Paris, I have chosen to refer to her as Josephine – for it is now that her life truly begins.

7. ‘Les Registres Paroissiaux de Noisy-le-Grand’, Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire de Paris (1894), p. 126.

8. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 87.

9. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 34.

10. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 37.

11. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 85.

12. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 55.

13. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 102.

14. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 87.

15. Montgaillard, Souvenirs du Comte Montgaillard (Paris, 1895), p. 85.

16. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 52.

17. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 103.

18. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 124.

19. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 125.

20. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 130.

21. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 130.

22. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 137.

23. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 149.

24. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 151.

25. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 152.

26. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 162.

27. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 162.

28. Masson, Josephine, p. 117.

29. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 171.

3. ‘Beneath all the sluts in the world’

1. Archives Nationales, Paris, Y 13,795.

2. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 183. In Mme la Comtesse C. D’Arjuzon, Joséphine contre Beauharnais (Paris, 1906).

3. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beaharnais, p. 184.

4. Hanoteau, Le Ménage Beauharnais, p. 201.

5. Victor du Bled, La Société française du XVIe au XXe siècle (Paris: Perrin, 1901), p. 312.

6. Mme de Rémusat, Mémoires, vol. 1, p. 34.

7. Mme la Comtesse C. D’Arjuzon, Josephine Contre Beauharnais, pp. 13–19.

8. In D’Arjuzon, Joséphine contre Beauharnais, p. 65.

9. Aubenas, Impératrice, I, p. 151.

10. Fersen coincidentally wrote to Marie Antoinette as Josephine.

11. Jacques Janssens, Josephine, p. 86.

12. Queen Hortense, Mémoires, I, p. 30.

4. Revolution

1. Fraser, Marie Antoinette, p. 281.

2. Kybalová and others, pp. 223–230.

3. Madame de Staël, Considerations sur la Revolution française, p. 101.

4. J.W. Croker, Essays on the Early Period of the French Revolution (1857), p. 121.

5. Madame de Staël, Considerations sur la Revolution française, part 2, p. 248.

6. Klinckowstrom, Le Comte de Fersen & la Cour de France, vol. 1, pp. 208–9.

7. Josephine, Correspondance 1782–1814, eds. Chevallier, Catinat & Pincemaille, p. 16.

8. Memoirs de Madame de La Tour du Pin, p. 177.

9. William Cohen, The French Encounter with Africans, p. 115.

10. Masson, Josephine de Beauharnais, pp. 186–7.

11. 17 January 1794, Josephine to the Committee, Josephine, Correspondance, ed. Chevalier, p. 17.

12. Masson, Josephine de Beauharnais.

13. Masson, Josephine de Beauharnais, p. 210.

14. Queen Hortense, Mémoires, vol. 1, p. 34.

15. Josephine to Hortense, Correspondance, p. 19.

16. Grace Elliott, Journal of My Life, p. 188.

17. Josephine to Hortense, Correspondance, p. 19.

18. Manuscripts Collection, La Pagerie Museum, Martinique.

19. Memoirs and Correspondence of the Imperatrice Josephine, collected by Regnault (Paris, 1820).

20. Georgette Ducrest, Mémoires sur l’Impératrice Joséphine: La Ville, la cour et les salons de Paris sous l’Empire (Paris, 1828), vol. 1, p. 55.

21. Ducrest, I, p. 59.

22. Ducrest, I, p. 59.

5. ‘The height of good manners to be ruined’

1. Quoted in the Magnificent Comedy, p. 92.

2. Josephine to Mme La Pagerie, 20 November 1794, Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, p. 23.

3. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, p. 26.

4. Lettres inédites de Madame de Staël à Henri Meister, eds. Usteri & Ritter, pp. 45–9.

5. Baron de Frénilly, Recollections, p. 136.

6. Baron de Frénilly, Recollections, p. 136.

7. Correspondance de Napoléon 1er rassamblée dans les ouvrages publiés par les soins de Napoléon III 1858–69.

8. 1 January 1795, Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, p. 28.

9. G. De Sainte-Croix de la Roncière, Joséphine Impératrice, p. 98.

10. Talleyrand, cited in Kybalová and others, p. 240.

11. A. Aulard, Paris sous la Reaction Thermidorienne, III, p. 180.

12. Ducrest, I, p. 332.

13. Frénilly, Mémoires, p. 65.

14. Barras et son temps, p. 205.

15. Lever, de Sade: A Biography (1993), pp. 514–15.

16. Pasquier, Histoire de mon temps, I, p. 118.

17. Stuart, Josephine, p. 64.

18. Barras, Mémoires, II p. 104.

6. ‘What strange power you have over my heart’

1. Bertrand, Cahiers, II, p. 85.

2. Bertrand, Cahiers, I, p. 55.

3. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 75.

4. Bertrand, Cahiers, II, p. 198.

5. Bertrand, Cahiers, I, p. 66.

6. Bertrand, Cahiers, I, p. 75.

7. Bertrand, Cahiers, p. 78.

8. Rousseau, Du Contrat Social, II, p. 358.

9. Rémusat, I, p. 143.

10. Bertrand, Cahiers, III, p. 65.

11. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 144.

12. Masson, Napoleon inconnu, papiers inedits, II, p. 286.

13. 12 August 1795, Joseph Bonaparte, Mémoires, I, p. 142.

14. Joseph Bonaparte, Mémoires, I, p. 144.

15. McLynn, Napoleon, p. 87.

16. McLynn, Napoleon, p. 85.

17. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 145.

18. There is much debate about Bonaparte’s height – and some suggest he was as small as five foot two. The average height for a Frenchman at the time was about five foot six and many men make critical comments about his size. It should also be remembered that the aristocracy were thought to be taller; by saying that Bonaparte was small, people were declaring him low-class.

19. Napoleon, Correspondance, ed. Chevallier et al, I, p. 64. To Joseph.

20. Elliott’s memoirs are unreliable but this seems very likely.

21. Napoleon, Correspondance, ed. Chevallier et al, I, p. 65.

22. Barras, Mémoires, pp. 57–9.

23. de Staël, Correpondance, II, p. 65.

24. Marmon, Mémoires, II, p. 52.

25. Josephine to Napoleon, 28 October, Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, p. 31.

26. Chantal Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour à Josephine, p. 45.

27. Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 52.

28. See Kate Williams, England’s Mistress, p. 254.

29. Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 85.

30. Bertrand, Cahiers, p. 65.

31. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 247.

32. Josephine to Mme Renaudin, 6 September 1796, Josephine, Correspondance, p. 47.

33. Bertrand, Cahiers, p. 86.

34. Ducrest, I, p. 137.

35. Girod de l’Ain, Désirée Clary, p. 91.

7. ‘The single object in my heart’

1. Bertrand, Cahiers, p. 67.

2. Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 86.

3. 14 March 1796, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, pp. 49–50.

4. Napoleon, Lettres d’amour à Josephine, pp. 51–2.

5. 3 April, Napoleon, Lettres d’amour à Josephine, pp. 54–5.

6. 3 April, Napoleon, Lettres d’amour à Josephine, pp. 54–5.

7. 5 April, Napoleon, Lettres d’amour à Josephine, pp. 55–6.

8. 7 April, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 66.

9. Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 67.

10. 24 April, Napoleon, Lettres d’amour, p. 66.

11. 24 April, Napoleon, Lettres d’amour, pp. 63–4.

12. 24 April, Napoleon, Lettres d’amour, pp. 63–4.

13. Napoleon, Lettres d’amour, p. 65.

14. 29 April, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 61.

15. 15 June, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 60.

16. 15 June, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 80.

17. 3 April, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 56.

18. Marmont, Mémoires, I, pp. 87–8.

19. 13 May, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 62.

20. 26 June, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 60.

21. 17 April, Napoleon, Lettres d’amour, p. 61.

22. Duc de Raguse, Mémoires de Maréchal Marmont, I, p. 187.

23. 8 June, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 70.

24. Arnault, Souvenirs, p. 392.

25. 26 June, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 80.

26. Hastier, Le Grand Amour de Josephine, p. 70.

27. Souvenirs et mémoires, recueil mensue; de documents (Paris, 1898), I, p. 55.

28. Henry Foljambe, p. 188.

29. Napoleon, Correspondance, II, p. 72.

30. McLynn, Napoleon, p. 147. In tearing the Catholic art out of context, Napoleon was denying religion. Also, Britain might have had a superior naval power, but its art was unimpressive landscapes, horses and dogs hung on the Briton’s walls, and dreary Benjamin West was in charge of the Royal Academy.

31. Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 75.

32. Napoleon, Lettres d’amour, pp. 74–5.

33. Napoleon, Correspondance Generale, I, p. 43.

8. A million kisses

1. Josephine, Correspondance 1782–1814, p. 45.

2. Antoine Hamelin, Douze ans de ma vie, pp. 11–12.

3. Hamelin, Douze ans de ma vie, p. 15.

4. Josephine, Correspondance 1782–1814, p. 45.

5. 17 July, Bonazzi, pp. 93–4.

6. Josephine, Correspondance, p. 45.

7. 21 July, Bonazzi, p. 97.

8. Hamelin, Douze ans de ma vie, p. 19.

9. 17 October, Napoleon, Lettres d’amour, pp. 112–13.

10. Napoleon, Lettres d’amour, pp. 113–14.

11. Josephine to Mme Renaudin, 6 September 1796, Correspondance, p. 47.

12. 21 November, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 123.

13. 27 November, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, pp. 127–8.

14. 28 November, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 129.

15. Tulard and Garros, Itineraire de Napoleon, p. 89.

16. 19 November, 1796, Correspondance, II, p. 1201.

17. Miot de Melito, Mémoires, II, pp. 174–5.

18. Carron de Nisas, Mémoires, I, p. 78.

19. Abrantes, Mémoires, p. 66.

20. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 45.

21. 24 April, Napoleon to Josephine, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 70.

22. Masson, Napoleon Inconnu: Papiers Inédités, p. 203.

23. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 131.

24. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 150.

25. Hortense, Mémoires, p. 65.

26. De Staël, Des Circonstances actuelles qui peuvent terminer la Révolution et des principles qui doivent fonder la République en France, p. 122. Emmanuel de Las Cases, Mémorial se Sainte Hélène, 1823–1824, II p. 195.

27. Michel Poniatowski, Talleyrand et La Directory, p. 89.

28. Bertrand, Cahiers, Janvier-Mai, 1829, p. 98.

9. ‘I am so distressed at being separated from him’

1. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, 565.

2. Lucien Bonaparte, Mémoires, II, p. 342.

3. McLynn, p. 153.

4. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 343.

5. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 87.

6. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, p. 87.

7. Masson, Josephine, p. 124.

8. Bertrand, Cahiers, p. 67.

9. Mme de Rémusat, Memoirs de Madame de Rémusat 1802–1818, I, p. 247.

10. L. Hastier, Le Grand amour de Joséphine (Paris, 1955), pp. 152–4.

11. Hastier, Grand Amour, p. 153.

12. 17 March 1798, Josephine to Hippolyte Charles, Josephine, Correspondance, p. 60.

13. Josephine to Hippolyte Charles, Josephine, Correspondance, p. 60.

14. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 67.

15. L’Orient should have carried 1000 men but it was crammed – which made for poor conditions.

16. Masson, Josephine, p. 128.

17. Adrien Grosjean, Nouvel essai sur les eaux minérales de Plombières (Paris, 1803), p. 7.

18. Josephine, Correspondance, pp. 66–7.

19. Masson, Josephine, p. 131.

20. Masson, Josephine, p. 130.

21. Josephine, Correspondance, pp. 70–1.

22. Masson, Josephine, pp. 137–8.

23. Masson, Josephine, p. 142–3.

24. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 241.

25. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 322.

26. Bourrienne souped up his memoirs after the event and, like most memoirists, inserted himself more, so there is a possibility he might not have been there. But his picture of Bonaparte is correct: he was devastated.

27. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 322.

28. Morand, Lettres sur l’expedition de Egypte, 19 September 1798, pp. 171–2.

29. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 200.

30. British Museum, Add MSS, 23003. Also, see Mémoires et Correspondance du Roi Joseph, ed. Du Casse, I, p. 189.

31. Masson, pp. 139–40.

32. Desvernois, Mémoires, p. 134.

33. Napoleon, Correspondance, XXIX, p. 457.

34. Williams, England’s Mistress, p. 232.

35. Morning Chronicle, 24 November 1798.

10. ‘All I have suffered’

1. British Museum, Add MSS, 23003.

2. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 65.

3. Hubert, Malmaison, p. 14.

4. Hubert, Malmaison, p. 14.

5. Hubert, Malmaison, p. 14.

6. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, 1782–1814, ed. by Bernard Chevallier, Maurice Catinat and Christophe Pincemaille (Paris: Payot, 1996), letter 115, 2 March 1799, p. 82.

7. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 116, 17 March 1799, p. 82.

8. Hubert, Malmaison, p. 14.

9. Impératrice Joséphine, Mémoires et correspondance de l’Impératrice Joséphine (Paris, 1820), pp. 154–5.

10. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 126, 24 June 1799, p. 87.

11. February 1799, Impératrice Josephine, Correspondance, p. 81.

12. Gavoty, Les Amoureux, 23 June, p. 279.

13. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 296.

14. Bertrand, Cahiers, I, p. 234.

15. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 300.

16. They were from June, the most recent they had.

17. When she found out the truth, she took Junot as a lover and then General Kleber, who was infuriated to be left in charge of the Army of the Orient by a commander who had failed even to consult him or take his leave.

18. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 131, 30 September 1799, p. 89.

19. Les Beauharnais et L’Empereur. Lettres de l’Impératrice Joséphine et de la Reine Hortense au Prince Eugène (Paris, 1936), pp. 125–6.

20. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, p. 56.

11. ‘He owes me everything’

1. D’Abrantès, Mémoires, 1, p. 265.

2. Maurice Lescure, Madame Hamelin, p. 54.

3. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 5.

4. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 7.

5. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 120.

6. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 344. Bourrienne’s words were probably exaggerated, but this was the type of melodrama that Napoleon liked.

7. Bourrienne, II, p. 10.

8. D’Abrantes, Mémoires, II, p. 92.

9. 18 July, Napoleon to Josephine, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 105.

10. 24 April, Napoleon to Josephine, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 166.

11. Bourrienne, II, p. 102.

12. D’Abrantès, Mémoires, 1, p. 265.

13. Gohier, Mémoires, II, p. 2.

14. Bourrienne, I, p. 199.

15. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 250.

16. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 252.

17. Lever, de Sade, p. 514.

18. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 155.

19. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 355.

20. Hortense, Mémoires, p. 187.

21. Jules Bertaut, p. 135.

22. Ducrest, p. 33.

23. Memoirs de Mme de la Tour du Pin, p. 85.

24. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 352.

25. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 354.

26. As her lady-in-waiting put it, ‘the idleness of a Court life makes the day seem a hundred hours long’ (Rem, p. 131).

27. Bertrand, Cahiers, p. 345.

28. Rémusat, 1, p. 61.

29. Bertrand, Cahiers, p. 365.

30. Rémusat, 1, p. 5.

31. Ducrest, 1, p. 33. Mme de Rémusat, 1, p. 29.

32. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 450.

33. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 152, p. 99.

34. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 153, p. 99.

35. Ducrest, 1, p. 33.

36. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 420.

37. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 430.

38. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 463.

39. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 460.

40. See Kiefer, Empress Josephine, p. 29.

41. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 345.

42. Kybalová and others, p. 243.

43. Hortense, Mémoires, cited in Hamilton, p. 120.

44. Kybalová and others, p. 243.

45. Christopher Herold, Mistress to an Age, p. 104.

46. Rémusat, Mémoires, II, p. 300.

47. Ducrest, 1, p. 12.

48. Alexandra Gerstein, ‘Josephine at Malmaison’, in France in Russia, p. 12.

49. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, 1782–1814, ed. by Bernard Chevallier, Maurice Catinat and Christophe Pincemaille (Paris: Payot, 1996), letter 166, 1800, p. 106.

50. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 200.

51. Bertaut, p. 132.

52. c. Oct–Nov 1799, Josephine, Correspondance, p. 93.

53. Le Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène, in Kiefer, p. 26.

54. Rémusat, 1, p. 13.

12. ‘The most beautiful thing in the world’

1. Hubert, Malmaison, p. 17.

2. Hubert, Malmaison, p. 17.

3. Hubert, Malmaison, p. 18.

4. Hubert, Malmaison, p. 17.

5. Hubert, Malmaison, p. 20.

6. ‘Le décor intérieur’, Musée National du château de Malmaison, p. 85.

7. Gerstein, ‘Josephine at Malmaison’, p. 15.

8. Gerstein, p. 15.

9. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 140, 1799, p. 94.

10. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 209, 23 November 1803, p. 137.

11. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 213, 19 March 1804, pp. 142–3.

12. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 213, 19 March 1804, pp. 142–3.

13. Ventenat, Le Jardin de Malmaison, p. 88.

14. Ventenat, Le Jardin de Malmaison, p. 89.

15. To Josephine at Plombières, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 161.

16. Napoleon made his old principal at Brienne head of the Library.

17. Jill, Duchess of Hamilton, Napoleon, the Empress & the Artist, p. 114.

18. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 485, 14 June 1813, pp. 348–9.

19. Hubert, Malmaison, p. 32.

20. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 485, 14 June 1813, pp. 348–9.

21. Fontaine, 1 July 1802, cited in Gerstein, p. 16.

22. Lettres Intimes, letter X, p. 179.

23. Hubert, 1989, pp. 34–5.

24. Fontaine, 1 July 1802, cited in Gerstein, p. 16.

25. Evangeline Bruce, p. 306.

26. Kiefer, pp. 12–16.

27. In 1805, she opened the property to members of the Institut de France and administrators of the Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle, publishing an invitation in the Maison encyclopédique.

28. Lettres de Napoléon à Joséphine, réunies et préfacées par le Dr Léon Cerf (Paris, 1928), p. 57.

29. Laura Junot, Duchess of Abrantès, Autobiography and Recollections of Laura Duchess of Abrantès (widow of General Junot) (Bentley, 1893), p. 407.

30. Hamilton, p. 118.

31. Hamilton, p. 118.

32. This was recorded in Fontaine’s journal on 2 July 1800. Cited in Bernard Chevallier, Le Château de Malmaison, des origines à 1904 (Paris: Réunions des musées nationaux, 1989), p. 279.

33. Hamilton, p. 119.

34. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 525.

35. Stuart, p. 285.

36. Napoleon to Josephine, 1 July 1802, Bonazzi, pp. 118–202.

37. Hubert, Malmaison, p. 23.

38. Hubert, Malmaison, p. 22.

39. Hubert, Malmaison, p. 22.

40. Hubert, Malmaison, p. 23.

41. Mme Junot, cited in Hubert, 1989, p. 23.

42. Napoleon to Josephine, 19 June 1802, Bonazzi, p. 25.

43. François Jarry, Hortense de Beauharnais (Paris: Giovanangeli, 2009), p. 66.

44. Memoirs de Queen Hortense, 1, p. 2.

45. Jarry, 2009, p. 59.

46. On this account, see Hubert, 1989, pp. 24–5.

47. Jarry, 2009, p. 66.

48. Mme de Rémusat, Memoirs of Mme de Rémusat, trans. by Mrs Cashel Hoey and John Lillie (London, 1880), II, p. 323.

49. Mme Campan, letter to Hortense, cited in Jarry, 2009, p. 62.

50. Bertaut, p. 140.

51. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 213.

52. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 525.

53. Bourrienne I, p. 200, of Hamilton, p. 115.

54. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 200.

55. 31 August 1809.

56. Marquise de La Tour du Pin, Journal d’une femme de cinquante ans (1778–1815) (Paris: M. Imhaus & R. Chapelot, 1914), II, pp. 219–20, cited in Pougetoux, p. 93. Scholars now suggest that much of Josephine’s collection was acquired legitimitately, yet it is undeniable that she had more power to buy, more access and people sold to her because they were afraid of her husband (Pougetoux, pp. 93–4). The Louvre wanted her pictures, but had to satisfy themselves with copies.

57. Carol Solomon Kiefer, The Empress Josephine: Art & Royal Identity, exhibition catalogue (Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, 2005), p. 34.

58. Kiefer, p. 33.

59. Hubert, 1989, p. 33.

60. On the gallery, see Gerstein, p. 17.

61. L’Observateur au muséum ou la critique des tableaux en vaudeville (Paris, 1802), p. 17.

62. Kiefer, p. 41.

63. She also collected works by Pierre Cartellier.

64. Gerstein, p. 22.

13. Scenes with Bonaparte

1. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 156, 9 July 1800, p. 101.

2. Duchesse d’Abrantès, cited in Bertaut, p. 134.

3. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 102.

4. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 450.

5. Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 201.

6. Bourrienne, Mémoires.

7. Madame de La Tour du Pin, Mémoires, p. 346.

8. De Staël, Dix années d’exil, p. 94.

9. Pierre Roederer, Ouevres, V.

10. De Staël, Correspondances Générale, IV, p. 306.

11. Paul Gautier, Madame de Staël et Napoléon, p. 103.

12. Bourrienne, Mémoires, VIII, p. 101.

13. Queen Hortense, Mémoires, p. 69.

14. Jean Savant, Tel fut Napoléon.

15. Rémusat, I, p. 219.

16. Jules Bertaut, Impératrice Joséphine (Paris: Le Club du Livre d’Histoire, 1956), pp. 130–2.

17. Duchesse d’Abrantès, cited in Bertaut, p. 130.

18. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 464.

19. Bertaut, pp. 130–1.

20. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 500.

21. de Rémusat, Memoires, 1, p. 11.

22. On the Civil Code, see Patricia Mainardi, Husbands, Wives, and Lovers: Marriage and its Discontents in Nineteenth-Century France (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2003), pp. 12–18.

23. Bertrand, Cahiers, p. 177.

24. Bertrand, Cahiers, p. 169.

25. McLynn, Napoleon, p. 256.

26. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 384.

27. De Staël, Considérations, p. 339.

28. De Staël, Dix Années d’exil, p. 105. See also Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 30.

29. Madame de Staël, Dix années d’exil, p. 130.

30. Savant, Tel fut Napoléon. Barras, Mémoires, II, p. 65.

31. Documens particuliers (en forme de lettres) sur Napoleon Bonaparte, sur plusieurs de ses actes jusqu’ici inconnus ou mal interprétés (Paris, 1819), p. 103.

32. Louis Lumet, Napoléon 1er, Empereur des Français (Paris, 1908), p. 67.

33. Documens particuliers (en forme de lettres) sur Napoleon Bonaparte, sur plusieurs de ses actes jusqu’ici inconnus ou mal interprétés (Paris, 1819), p. 104.

34. Memoirs of General Count Rapp, p. 19.

35. Documens particuliers (en forme de lettres) sur Napoleon Bonaparte, sur plusieurs de ses actes jusqu’ici inconnus ou mal interprétés (Paris, 1819), p. 104.

36. Documens particuliers (en forme de lettres) sur Napoleon Bonaparte, sur plusieurs de ses actes jusqu’ici inconnus ou mal interprétés (Paris, 1819), p. 104.

37. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 56.

38. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 130.

39. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 65.

40. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 54.

41. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 55.

42. Grosjean, p. 4.

14. ‘My stepfather is a comet’

1. Bruce, Napoleon and Josephine, p. 64.

2. Hortense, Mémoires, 1, p. 55.

3. Hortense, Mémoires, 1, p. 73.

4. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 145.

5. Anonymous, Paris et ses modes ou les soirées parisiennes (Paris, 1803), p. 19.

6. Bertrand, Cahiers, p. 45.

7. Charles James Fox, Memoirs of the Latter Years of the Right Honourable Charles James Fox, pp. 188–285.

8. Edmund Eyre, Observations Made at Paris during the Peace (London, 1803), p. 54.

9. Yorke, Letters from France.

10. Josephine, Correspondance, p. 138.

11. Josephine to Mme La Pagerie, 1803, BN, 9324, National Archive, Paris.

12. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 50.

13. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 630.

14. Bertie Greatheed, An Englishman in Paris.

15. Bertrand, Cahiers, IV, p. 65.

16. Fojambe, p. 209.

17. Bruce, Napoleon and Josephine, p. 335.

18. Ducrest, I, p. 277.

19. Duchesse d’Abrantès, cited in Ludmila Kybalová, Olga Herbenová and Milena Lamarová, The Pictorial Encyclopaedia of Fashion, trans. by Claudia Rosoux (London: Paul Hamlyn, 1968), p. 227.

20. du Bled, p. 272.

21. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 344.

22. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 137.

23. James Gillray, Ci-Devant Occupations, 1805.

24. Thomas Rowlandson, The Progress of the Empress Josephine, 1808.

25. Bertrand, Cahiers, p. 65.

26. Constant, Mémoires.

27. Rémusat, Mémoires, II, p. 231.

28. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 142.

29. Marguerite Joséphine Weimer, called Mlle George, Mémoires inédits de Mademoiselle George, p. 29.

30. Edith Saunders, Napoleon and Mademoiselle George, p. 55.

31. Rémusat, Mémoires, II, p. 321.

32. Some of these prisoners were held until Napoleon abdicated in 1814.

33. Madame de Staël, Dix Années d’exil, p. 94.

34. Masson, Madame Bonaparte, p. 65.

35. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 145.

36. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 191.

37. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 150.

38. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, 2087.

39. Ducrest, Mémoires, 1, p. 59.

40. See Documens particuliers (en forme de lettres) sur Napoléon Bonaparte, sur plusieurs de ses actes jusqu ici inconnus ou mal interprétés (Paris, 1819), p. 106.

15. ‘Your Imperial Majesty’

1. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 255.

2. Fojambe, p. 209.

3. Avrillon, Mémoires de Mlle Avrillon, première femme de chamber de l’impératrice, sur la vie privée de Joséphine, sa famille et sa cour, p. 69.

4. Savant, Napoleon et Joséphine.

5. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 5.

6. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 306.

7. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 305.

8. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 309.

9. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 309.

10. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 313.

11. Roederer, Oeuvres, I, p. 214.

12. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 315.

13. D’Abrantès, Mémoires, I, p. 215.

14. D’Abrantès, Mémoires, I, p. 216.

15. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 247.

16. ‘The King of Diamonds’

1. Rémusat, Mémoires, II, p. 65.

2. Rémusat, Mémoires, II, p. 131.

3. Duchesse d’Abrantès, Memoirs of Madame Junot, Duchesse d’Abrantès, II, pp. 347–8.

4. Gautier, Madame de Staël et Napoleon, p. 168.

5. Rémusat, Mémoires, II, p. 65.

6. Bruce, Napoleon and Josephine, p. 373.

7. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 263.

8. Josephine, Correspondance, p. 217.

9. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 293.

10. D’Abrantès, Mémoires, p. 82.

11. Madame de Staël, Dix années d’exil, p. 95.

12. Ducrest, I, p. 255.

13. Rémusat, I, p. 122.

14. Constant, Mémoires.

15. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 150.

16. Avrillon, Mémoires, p. 103.

17. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 234.

18. Bourgeat, Lettres, p. 67.

19. Avrillon, Mémoires, p. 156.

20. Rémusat, Mémoires, II, p. 145.

21. Bertrand, Cahiers, p. 75.

22. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 350.

23. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 357.

24. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 132.

25. Remusat, Mémoires, II, p. 64.

26. Sutherland, Walewska, p. 40.

27. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 402.

28. Memoirs of Queen Hortense, Mémoires de la Reine Hortense, p. 4.

29. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 224.

30. Ducrest, I, p. 57.

31. Napoleon to Josephine, 14 August 1804.

32. Ducrest, I, p. 57.

33. Rémusat, Mémoires, II, p. 65.

34. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 40.

35. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 35. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 20.

17. ‘I have fulfilled my destiny’

1. Hanoteau, Les Beauharnais et l’Empereur.

2. Napoleon, Lettres d’amour, p. 174.

3. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 437.

4. Alistair Horne, Napoleon: Master of Europe, p. 378.

5. Bourgeat, Napoléon: Lettres à Josèphine.

6. 27 October 1805, Napoleon to Josephine, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour.

7. 10 December 1805, Napoleon to Josephine, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 175.

8. 2 December 1805, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 123.

9. 19 December 1805, Napoleon to Josephine, Bonazzi.

10. André Castelot, Napoléon.

11. Napoleon, Correspondance de Napoleon I.

12. By 1811, he ruled 44 million people.

13. Josephine, Correspondance, p. 185.

14. Rémusat, Mémoires, II, p. 55.

15. Ducrest, I, p. 193.

16. Hortense, Mémoires, I, p. 47.

17. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 333.

18. Rémusat, Mémoires, I p. 294.

19. See Mémoires of Lucien.

20. Bourrienne, Mémoires, I, p. 345.

21. Napoleon to Eugène, Correspondance, XVII, p. 938.

22. Rémusat, Mémoires, I, p. 198.

23. 5 October 1806, Napoleon to Josephine, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour.

24. 16 October 1806, Napoleon to Josephine, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour.

25. Savant, Napoleon et Josephine. 6 November 1806, Napoleon to Josephine, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour.

26. 1 November 1806, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 157.

27. 3 December 1806, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 158.

28. 2 December 1806, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 159.

29. 3 December 1806, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 160.

30. 31 December 1806, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 161.

18. ‘I wish you would be more reasonable’

1. 7 January 1807, Napoleon to Josephine.

2. Christine Sutherland, Walewska, p. 68.

3. Walewski Archives.

4. Walewski Archives.

5. Walewski Archives.

6. Bruce, Napoleon and Josephine: Josephine correspondence, p. 200, from the Walewski Archives.

7. Bertrand, Cahiers, p. 145.

8. Napoleon to Marie Walewska, Napoleon, Correspondance, ed. Chevallier, p. 85.

9. 11 January 1807, Napoleon to Josephine, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour.

10. 18 January 1807, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour.

11. Bruce, p. 343.

12. Napoleon, 25 March 1807, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 267.

13. Bruce, Napoleon and Josephine, p. 407, from the Archives Nationale in Paris.

14. Josephine, Correspondance, p. 200.

15. Hanoteau, Les Beauharnais et l’Empereur.

16. 27 March 1807, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour.

17. 17 March 1807, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour.

18. 25 March 1807, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour.

19. 2 April 1807, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour.

20. 10 May 1807, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour.

21. Bruce, Napoleon and Josephine, p. 410.

22. Napoleon, 14 May 1807, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 283.

23. Napoleon, 14 May 1807, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 283.

24. 26 May 1807, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour.

25. Rémusat, Mémoires.

26. 2 June 1807, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour.

27. Bourgeat, Napoléon: Lettres à Joséphine, 3 July 1807.

28. Napoleon, 25 June 1807, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 297.

29. 7 July 1807, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 204.

30. Bourrienne, Mémoires, III, p. 150.

31. Bertrand, Cahiers, III, p. 51.

19. ‘Cold and often embarrassed’

1. Bourrienne, Mémoires, p. 65.

2. Josephine, Correspondance, p. 217.

3. Rémusat, Mémoires, II, p. 234.

4. Bourgeat, Napoléon: Lettres à Joséphine.

5. Bertrand, Cahiers, p. 145.

6. Maurice Guerrini, Napoleon and Paris, p. 183.

7. Bourrienne, Mémoires, VIII, pp. 101–16.

8. Napoleon, Correspondance de Napoleon I.

9. 10 February 1808, Josephine, Correspondance, p. 219.

10. Josephine to Eugène, 22 September 1808, Josephine, Correspondance, p. 229.

11. Caulaincourt, Mémoires.

12. Napoleon, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 312.

13. Napoleon, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 313.

14. Napoleon, Correspondance, ed. Chevallier.

15. Cardinal Fouché, Mémoires, p. 87.

16. FM, 412. Bertrand, Cahiers, IV, p. 56.

17. Bruce, Napoleon and Josephine: An Improbable Marriage, p. 438, from the Walewski Archives.

18. Rémusat, Mémoires. Martinique would remain British until 1814.

19. D’Abrantès, Mémoires, p. 182.

20. Normand Caulaincourt, Mémoires p. 456.

21. 22 October 1809, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 207.

22. Ducrest, I, p. 244.

23. Hortense, Mémoires, p. 117.

20. ‘Like a wounded soldier’

1. Bourrienne, Mémoires, III, p. 64.

2. Bourrienne, Mémoires, III, p. 56.

3. Hortense, Mémoires.

4. Bourrienne, Mémoires, III, p. 115.

5. Hortense, Mémoires.

6. Ducrest, I, p. 207.

7. Imperatrice Josephine, Lettres, p. 240.

8. Les Beauharnais et L’Empereur. Lettres de l’Impératrice Joséphine et de la Reine Hortense au Prince Eugène (Paris, 1936), p. 81.

9. Hortense, Mémoires.

10. Napoleon, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 359, December 1809.

11. Ducrest, I, p. 171.

12. Ducrest, II, p. 28.

13. Napoleon, Lettres d’amour, p. 360.

14. 17 January 1810.

15. Hortense, Mémoires, p. 175.

16. Castelot, Joséphine.

17. Napoleon, Correspondance, ed. Chevallier, p. 78.

18. Napoleon, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 381.

19. Ducrest, I, p. 89.

20. Betrand, Cahiers, IV.

21. Hortense, Mémoires, p. 315.

22. Philip Mansel, The Court of France, p. 121.

23. Martineau, Marie-Louise, p. 78.

24. Bourgeat, Napoléon: Lettres à Joséphine, 19 April 1810.

25. Napoleon, 20 April 1810, Bonazzi, Lettres d’Amour, p. 382.

26. 22 April 1810, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour.

27. Hortense, Mémoires.

28. Napoleon Letters, Bruce, p. 455.

29. Ducrest, I, p. 158.

30. 14 September 1810, Correspondence, ed. Chevalier, p. 166.

31. Masson, Joséphine Répudiée, pp. 199–201.

32. Ducrest, I, p. 239.

33. Ducrest, I, p. 206.

34. Ducrest, I, p. 283.

35. Ducrest, I, p. 214–15.

36. Fraser, Marie Antoinette, p. 155.

37. Napoleon, 22 March 1811, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 395.

38. Napoleon, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 396.

39. Napoleon, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 397.

40. Gerstein, p. 12.

41. Bourrienne, Mémoires, III, p. 120.

42. Bourrienne, Mémoires, III, p. 140.

43. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 485, 14 June 1813, pp. 348–9.

44. Pougetoux, p. 94.

45. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 464, 25 September 1812, p. 336.

46. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 464, 25 September 1812, p. 336.

47. Impératrice Joséphine, Correspondance, letter 468, 13 October 1812, p. 339.

48. Baron d’Ambès, The Intimate Memoires of Napoleon III, ed. and trans. by A. R. Allinson (London: Stanley Paul & Co., 1933), I, p. 54.

49. Napoleon, Bonazzi, Lettres d’amour, p. 397.

50. Mansel, The Court of France 1789–1830, p. 121.

51. François-René Chateaubriand, Mémoires, p. 269.

52. Constant, Mémoires.

53. McLynn, p. 510.

54. Napoleon, Correspondance, ed. Chevallier, V.

55. Betrand, Cahiers.

56. Fairweather, p. 408.

57. Jakob Walter, Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier, trans. (London: Penguin, 1991). CH, p. 202.

58. Bertrand, Cahiers, p. 145.

59. Duc de Fezensac, Mémoires, p. 254.

21. More full of charm

1. Caulancourt, Mémoires, p. 234.

2. Masson, Joséphine répudiée, p. 306.

3. Masson, Joséphine répudiée, p. 308.

4. Bonaparte, Mémoires, p. 445.

5. Napoleon, Correspondance, ed. Chevallier.

6. Correspondance, ed. Chevallier, I.

7. Correspondance, ed. Chevallier, II, p. 64.

8. Memoirs of Queen Hortense, p. 179.

9. Bourrienne, Mémoires, IV, p. 30.

10. Josephine, Correspondance, ed. Chevallier, p. 208.

11. Hortense, Mémoires, II, p. 103.

12. Hortense, Mémoires, II, p. 106.

13. Hortense, Mémoires, II, p. 193.

14. Betrand, Cahiers.

Epilogue

1. Bourrienne, Mémoires, IV, p. 150.

2. Bourrienne, Mémoires, IV, p. 100.

3. Bourrienne, Mémoires, IV, p. 135.

4. Bourrienne, Mémoires, IV, p. 150.

5. Napoleon, Correspondance, XXXII, 340.

6. Hortense, Mémoires, I, p. 194.

7. Bourrienne, Mémoires, II, p. 145.

8. He had offered Louis XVIII the paintings if the Bonaparte family were permitted to return to France, but he was refused.

9. Napoleon, Correspondance, XXXII, 250.

10. However, of the 68 paintings Alexander acquired, many have now been dispersed to other museums, and 15 have disappeared entirely. Alexander Babin, ‘Le Voyage Pittoresque from Malmaison to St Petersburg’, in France in Russia, pp. 25–8.

List of Illustrations

1. Empress Josephine (1763–1814) 1808 (oil on canvas), Gerard, Francois Pascal Simon, Baron (1770–1837) / Chateau de Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne, France / Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library.

2. La Pagerie. R.Ziff / Travel-Images.com.

3. Alexandre de Beauharnais. Unknown French painter of the David circle.

4. Gerard, Francois (1770–1837): Portrait de la reine Hortense de Digitale Beauharnais (1783–1837) enfant. Elle est la fille de l’imperatrice Josephine de Beauharnais et la mere du futur Napoleon II, 18eme siecle. Avignon, Musee Calvet. peinture © 2013. White Images/Scala, Florence.

5. Portrait de Son Altesse Impériale le prince Eugène Napoléon. (C) RMN-Grand Palais (musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau) / Michèle Bellot.

6. Visite de Joséphine à son mari Alexandre à la prison du Luxembourg en 1794. (C) RMN-Grand Palais (musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau) / Daniel Arnaudet.

7. Letter to Josephine de Beauharnais, 1795–6 (pen & ink on paper), Bonaparte, Napoleon (1769–1821) / Private Collection / Photo © Christie’s Images / The Bridgeman Art Library.

8. Portrait of Theresa de Cabarrus (1773–1835) also known as Madame Tallien, printed by Boussod, Valadon and Company, 1895 (coloured litho), Isabey, Jean-Baptiste (1767–1855) (after) / Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France / Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library.

9. Paul Francois Nicolas, Vicomte de Barras, from ‘Histoire de la Revolution Francaise’ by Louis Blanc (1811–82) (engraving), French School, (19th century) / Private Collection / Ken Welsh / The Bridgeman Art Library.

10. Ci-devant Occupations, or Madame Talian and the Empress Josephine Dancing Naked before Barrass in the Winter of 1797, published by Hannah Humphrey in 1805 (etching with aquatint), Gillray, James (1757–1815) / © Courtesy of the Warden and Scholars of New College, Oxford / The Bridgeman Art Library.

11. Portrait of Napoleon I Bonaparte (1769–1821) by Andrea Appiani, oil on board, 1796, Appiani, Andrea the Elder (1754–1817) / Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan, Italy / De Agostini Picture Library / © Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana – Milano / The Bridgeman Art Library.

12. Three Graces (marble), Canova, Antonio (1757–1822) / Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia / Cameraphoto Arte Venezia / The Bridgeman Art Library.

13. Napoleon I (1769–1821) on the Bridge of Arcole (oil on canvas), Gros, Baron Antoine Jean (1771–1835) / Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia / The Bridgeman Art Library.

14. The Empress Josephine, 1806 (oil on canvas), Lefevre, Robert (1755–1830) / Apsley House, The Wellington Museum, London, UK / © English Heritage Photo Library / The Bridgeman Art Library.

16. View of the Wooden Bridge on the River near the Statue of Diane, from ‘Views of Malmaison’, engraved by Louis Garneray (1783–1857) (aquatint), Garneray, Auguste Simon (1785–1824) (after) / Bibliotheque des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France / Archives Charmet / The Bridgeman Art Library.

18. Dining room, Chateau de Malmaison, Rueil-Malmaison, by architects Pierre-Francois-Leonard Fontaine and Charles Percier, France, 19th century / De Agostini Picture Library / G. Dagli Orti / The Bridgeman Art Library.

19. Bedroom of Empress Josephine (1763–1814) (photo), French School, (19th century) / Musee Nat. du Chateau de Malmaison, Rueil-Malmaison, France / Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library.

20. Josephine Tasher de la Pagerie (1763–1814) Empress of the French, gazing at a bust of her son Eugene de Beauharnais (1781–1824) at Malmaison, 1808 (oil on canvas), Gros, Baron Antoine Jean (1771–1835) / Musee d’Art et d’Histoire, Palais Massena, Nice, France / Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library.

21. The Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon (1769–1821) and the Coronation of the Empress Josephine (1763–1814) by Pope Pius VII, 2nd December 1804, 1806–07 (oil on canvas) (detail of 18412), David, Jacques Louis (1748–1825) / Louvre, Paris, France / Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library.

22. The Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon (1769–1821) and the Coronation of the Empress Josephine (1763–1814) by Pope Pius VII, 2nd December 1804, 1806–7 (oil on canvas), David, Jacques Louis (1748–1825) / Louvre, Paris, France / The Bridgeman Art Library.

23. The Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon (1769–1821) and the Coronation of the Empress Josephine (1763–1814) by Pope Pius VII (1742–1823) 2nd December 1804, 1807 (oil on canvas) (detail of 18412), David, Jacques Louis (1748–1825) / Louvre, Paris, France / Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library.

24. Le Sacre de Napoleon. Detail representant Laetitia Bonaparte (1750–1836), mere de Napoleon Ier lors du Sacre de l’Empereur Napoleon Ier Bonaparte et couronnement de l’Imperatrice Josephine a Notre-Dame de Paris le 2 decembre 1804. 1804–1806. White Images/Scala, Florence.

25. Robe de cour de l’impératrice Joséphine. (C) RMN-Grand Palais (musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau) / Gérard Blot.

26. Le diademe (couronne) de l’imperatrice Josephine de Beauharnais (Marie-Joseph-Rose de Tascher de la Pagerie) (1763–1814). 1804–1809. White Images/Scala, Florence.

27. Hortense de Beauharnais (1783–1837) (oil on canvas), Richard, Fleury Francois (1777–1852) / Fondation Dosne-Thiers (Musee Frederic Masson) Paris, France / Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library.

28. Portrait en pied d’ Hortense de Beauharnais, reine de Hollande (1783–1837) et son fils Napoleon Charles, 1807. © Photo Scala, Florence.

29. Imperial Botany, or: a peep at Josephine’s collection. The Bodleian Libraries, the University of Oxford, Curzon b. 30 (83).

30. Imperial Botany, or: a peep at Josephine’s collection. The Bodleian Libraries, the University of Oxford, Curzon b. 30 (83).

31. Imperial Botany, or: a peep at Josephine’s collection. The Bodleian Libraries, the University of Oxford, Curzon b. 30 (83).

32. Divorce statement of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) and Empress Josephine (1763–1814) 9th January 1810 (pen & ink on paper), French School, (19th century) / Archives du Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres, Paris, France / Archives Charmet / The Bridgeman Art Library.

33. Marie Louise (1791–1847) and the King of Rome (1811–32) (oil on canvas), Gerard, Francois Pascal Simon, Baron (1770–1837) / Château de Versailles, France / Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library.

34. Vue du château de Navarre. (C) RMN-Grand Palais (musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau) / Daniel Arnaudet.

35. Napoleon I (1769–1821) on the Imperial Throne, 1806 (oil on canvas), Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique (1780–1867) / Musee de l’Armee, Paris, France / Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library.

Acknowledgements

So many new letters and documents have emerged and yet popular notions still persist of Josephine as feather-brained, lacking intellect, without ambition. In the summer of 2008 I rented a flat near the Musée de Cluny in Paris and spent every day in the Archives Nationales, studying Josephine’s letters and the memoirs of her friends and enemies. It became clear that her reputation as excessively ‘feminine’, lacking intellect or ambition, was a carefully cultivated power play on her behalf, which worked perfectly until the very end. This was the Josephine I wanted to explore in this book. Josephine’s own propaganda of the gentle consort occupied only by trivialities is very seductive. But in a merciless time, she had to be tough to survive – and her letters lay bare her ruthless determination. It feels fitting that she chose a swan as her symbol, a bird which appears graceful but is scrabbling underneath the surface – and has a pretty unforgiving bite.

I am indebted to all those who have edited the letters and diaries of Josephine and her circle, and who have written on her life and those of her associates. The current project of the Fondation Napoléon, led by Victor André Masséna, Prince d’Essling, to publish Napoleon’s full correspondence – with letters omitted from the earlier volumes – is a joy to all Napoleon scholars. Ten volumes have been published to date, with four to come, and they have been invaluable to me – as they will be to researchers in the future.

My work would not have been possible without the efforts of archivists to conserve the papers of Josephine, Napoleon and her circle, and I am very grateful to them all. The generosity of other scholars is always humbling. I am indebted to those who have written books that have transformed our view of Josephine and her circle – and been very helpful to me with advice, insight and help. Bernard Chevallier, to whom anyone who works on Josephine is always greatly indebted, Jill, Duchess of Hamilton, who was always full of generous encouragement (and kindly loaned me her book), Andrew Roberts, Munro Price, Paul Strathern, Flora Fraser and the generous Mlle Mountjoly at the Musée de la Pagerie, Martinique, have all been very welcoming, and Andrea Stuart was very kind. Sandra Gulland’s work is always inspiring. A welcome grant from the Society of Authors allowed me to consult the Archives in Martinique. Working in the Fondation Napoléon, Malmaison Archives and Archives Nationales has been an incredible privilege – and I am very grateful to all the staff.

I am very grateful to everyone at Hutchinson and Random House, who have always been this book’s greatest support. Thank you to my wonderful editor, Jocasta Hamilton at Hutchinson, who has been full of patience, imagination, kindness, enthusiasm and brilliant ideas. Thank you to the truly marvellous Susan Sandon, Richard Cable and Gail Rebuck for their very kind support – and thank you very much, Susan, for the lunches! Paul Sidey commissioned the book and I am sorry he was not there to see it through, but I hope he enjoys it – he did so much for me earlier in my career. Paulette Hearn and Catherine Gaffney have shepherded Josephine kindly and patiently through the production process and Anna Swan was a copy-editor with an eagle eye that put me to shame. Amelia Harvell has done splendid things – as always – thank you. And thanks to Jeanette Slinger who makes coming to the office such a pleasure.

My parents and friends have put up with repeated absences – thank you. Marcus and Persephone have kindly endured a house full of books on Josephine and done so much to support me – with love and gratitude, thank you for everything.

Listing all the papers, articles and books I consulted would use up pages and exhaust the reader’s patience. My research focused on the letters of Josephine and her circle. The following is a select bibliography of my sources.

Index

The page references in this index correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created. To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please use the search feature of your ebook reader.

13 Vendémiaire 75

Aboukir 114, 115

Abrantès, Duchesse Laure d’ 165, 168, 186 see also Junot, Laure; Permond, Laure

accident in Plombières 113

Affair of the Diamond Necklace 36

Aiguillon, Duchesse d’ 52, 55–6

Aix-la-Chapelle 197, 198, 278

Aix-les-Bains 297

Ajaccio 208, 301

Alexander, Tsar 227, 248, 257–9, 288–9, 293, 299, 302

Alexandria 115, 118

America 31, 51, 152, 167

Amiens Treaty 180, 181, 191

animals at Malmaison 153–4, 158, 225, 303

Anna, Grand Duchess 270

Arberg, Madame d’ 279, 280